News

Apple says ‘size and capacity make iPod mini worthwhile’

By Dennis Lloyd ● Wednesday, February 18, 2004

‘[Danika] Cleary [Apple’s iPod worldwide product marketing manager] told Macworld: “The iPod mini is smaller and at a slightly lower price. It’s very fashionable, so it may appeal to women or younger people who may not have considered an iPod previously.’ [...]

Cleary clearly does. She said: ‘We really do think the price is right, and that’s because of a couple of reasons. The first is: when you really look at the flash-based players on the market, for around $200 you can get one - but for just $50 more you can get 16 times the amount of music in a package that’s not much bigger than any of the top-selling players in that category.’

Size matters, she stressed: ‘In terms of what people are buying, competing products are not really much smaller than the iPod mini

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For all of you wondering about the price of the iPod mini, consider the following not so outrageous marketing strategy:

Apple can always lower the price - it is much more difficult to start low and raise the price. Instead, they know that it should be priced at $199 when compared to the iPod, but also know that a lot of early adopters and price insensitive consumers will pay a premium. Once those customers have bought their units, it is easy to lower the price and/or increase the capacity. At the same time, Apple probably wants to manage its inventory of existing iPods and does not want to price the mini to aggressively.

Pretty sensible, really. Ultimately, it is likely that mini capacities will approach those of the regular iPod and will be priced competitively.

Posted by Ross Little in Irvine, CA on February 18, 2004 at 12:42 PM (CST)

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This standard Apple party line “it’s bigger than the flash players” reminds me of Communists saying over and over “We Will Bury You”.

Yes there are flash players that cost around $200, but they have recording and FM and no moving parts.

By choosing to compete with them on capacity/cost, Apple set themselves up on a dangerous point.

Because if I walk into Best Buy or Circuit City of Good Guys I can see several 4 GB players that are not flash, that are smaller than the iPod Mini, and that cost less.

Ignoring them won’t make them go away. Apple’s weird attitude here just seems like wilful ignorance.

Posted by ignoring in Irvine, CA on February 18, 2004 at 1:06 PM (CST)

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Do you think the average joe consumer knows the difference between a flash based player and one with moving parts? All they see is, Apple mini-ipod and go, “oh, that’s that cool Apple thing” and they’ll pick it up based on name brand and coolness factor.

Posted by jimmie joe in Irvine, CA on February 18, 2004 at 1:50 PM (CST)

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You’d think people are that ignorant, but they do notice when things don’t work.

My friend bought an iPod because of the advertised “30 minute anti skip”. After a week he sent it back because it was skipping when he was training. He bought a flash player. This is a true story.

Personally, I would have kept the iPod and *also* bought a flash player.

Now he has ordered an iPod Mini to see if its skip protection is better…

I think people can quickly *see* the difference between the iPod Mini and a flash player because the iPod Mini is so large by comparison to a tiny flash player. Also a very different shape - most of the flash players seem to be elongated and cylindrical to fit around the replacable AA or AAA battery.

Posted by problems in Irvine, CA on February 18, 2004 at 1:54 PM (CST)

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ignoring,

What players are available at Best Buy or Circuit City that are smaller than the ipod mini that also have 4GBs available? If you mean the Muvo 2, then you should look at the specs again. The muvo 2 measures 2.6x2.6x.8=5.4 while the mini ipod measures 3.6x2x.5=3.6 . Apple is not ignorant, they are simply using the same pricing strategy that EVERY company in the world uses. They are skimming the most profit out of a new product from those that are willing to pay for it. Once they have met demand at that price, they will drop the price to reach even more consumers.

Posted by mada in Irvine, CA on February 18, 2004 at 2:55 PM (CST)

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I use my iPod all the time when I mountain bike, and it never once skiped on me. I’ve been mountain biking with it for over 6 months and never had a problem. It continues to amaze me, you would think it was a flash player and not a hard drive with “moving parts”.

Posted by SOCAM in Irvine, CA on February 18, 2004 at 3:22 PM (CST)

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As with anything else, the market will dictate if they priced this right or not! If you don’t think so, vote with your wallet. As for me, I bought a blue one!

Posted by ipod-upod in Irvine, CA on February 18, 2004 at 4:33 PM (CST)

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Recording and FM? Often VERY badly done, from reviews. Dell won’t even let you move your recordings to your computer. And when do you need FM and have no other radio around? Sometimes, maybe.

But even if done well—those two features are little extras. Apple’s iPod has OTHER little extras that THOSE players lack. Those are valuable too.

Posted by "Extras" only count if they aren't by Apple? in Irvine, CA on February 18, 2004 at 10:25 PM (CST)

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Dell has always stood for cheap and barely functional.

iRiver does their recording and FM very well indeed, but their device has too many menus and no on-the-go playlists.

I think the sad truth is that it’s early days and there is no perfect mp3 player yet. Some come close: Apple and iRiver for example, but it will take a few years for a perfect player to emerge. They arer constrained by technology and lack of vision.